Yesterday, your College Support Full-Time bargaining team concluded our third week of bargaining with the employer, and we will return to the negotiations table on August 19th, 2025. Over the course of the last four days, we met with the employer multiple times and have seen very little movement.The
employer’s concessions are still on the table, which would:
- Make it easier to lay us off, by removing the need to provide data to support layoffs, and removing bumping protection;
- Claw back unused vacation, and prevent it from being rolled over;
- Double on-call time, making it possible for staff to be forced to be on-call for 6 months out of the year, at $1/hour;
- Implement split shifts: allowing the employer to schedule you on and off in the same day; and
- Prevent you from filing a grievance on job classification for 2 years.
This is unacceptable. Following this week, we anticipate a CEC communication saying that the employer has engaged in conversation about their proposals. The reality is, their concessions are still on the table and if we do nothing, they are ready to roll back hard-fought wins and make it easier to lay us off.
The only reason a conversation has even begun this week is because of the threat of a strike.They know that we are getting organized.
This is why we need to continue to build momentum and organize our co-workers for a strong “YES” strike mandate vote, which will be from August 13th-15th. From the beginning, your bargaining team has anticipated this tactic from our employer: to put distracting concessions on the table, and then try and convince us that retracting them would be a big win.
They want to wear us down and make us feel afraid, so that we accept the status quo.But the status quo is failing us. This year alone, we’ve seen more than 2,000 support-staff laid off, while college presidents continue to receive
yearly raises. We’ve seen 600+ programs that our communities rely on be cancelled, and support for our students taken away. Support staff are being asked to do more with less at every turn, and we know this will only continue unless we fight back.We can’t lose sight of what we are fighting for.
College support full-time staff’s proposals would strengthen job security, make it easier for you to take care of your family as life gets harder and harder for so many of us, and reduce inequalities for our most vulnerable membersOur proposals focus on:
Protecting our jobs:- Stop managers from doing support staff work
- Make it easier for members who are laid off to be recalled
- Mandate the employer to fill vacancies quickly
Making necessary improvements:- Increasing benefits like drug coverage and dental care
- Access personal days and family days
- Catching wages up with inflation
Protections for our most vulnerable- Make sure Appendix D workers access to sick time, benefits and other important entitlements.
- Waive probationary periods that offer no protections for layoffs
The employer wants to say that it is a difficult time in colleges, but together, we remember how we got here.In spite of chronic underfunding by the province, the Colleges have failed in their responsibility to advocate for the funding needed to stabilize the system. Instead, they have relied on an increasingly precarious workforce and
price-gouged international tuition to rake in historic profits. And now, they are asking workers and communities to pay the price.That’s why in this round of bargaining, we’ve put forward a proposal asking our College administrators to join us in advocating for increased government funding,
which they have refused to do so far. Instead, they are willing to continue the course which will only spell more layoffs, further cuts to programs and services, and increased pressure on members.We cannot sit back as our employer doubles down in bargaining and does nothing to stop what we are seeing: the complete bulldozing of Ontario’s public college system as we know it. In our bargaining town halls this week, where more than 1,500 of you came out, we heard from you:
if we don’t fight for our jobs in bargaining, we will have little to return to in September. We have 19 days between now and the first day of voting on August 13th, it’s up to each and every one of us to organize a strong “YES” strike mandate vote. To win the necessary improvements we need: to fight off concessions, to protect our jobs, and improve our conditions, we need to have thousands of conversations with our co-workers so we can return to the bargaining table with a strong strike mandate.
Will you join a phone bank next week to talk to your co-workers about fighting back? Join one of our daily phone banks at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m,, Monday through Friday.
Let’s get organized.In solidarity,
Your College Support Full-Time Bargaining Team:Christine Kelsey, Local 416 (Chair)
Shelley Gartshore, Local 124 (Vice-Chair)
Veronica Attard, Local 416
Dan Brisson, Local 672
Bob Holder, Local 243
Dana Leaman, Local 241
Xiaoyan Wang, Local 561
